Chapter 41 - Still thinking with the wrong spear!

Hakubin rode forwards with his mounted escort and stopped halfway between our warbands. While he had the numbers I wasn’t worried about it coming to an actual fight. We still had plenty of firewall stones on our cavalry to deal with the infantry. The only issue would be having to defend the prisoners. I’d taken to thinking of them as prisoners because “slaves” felt utterly wrong and alien to me. It had surprised me that during the march they had been reasonably content, exchanging food and even a few jokes with their guards.

“Well let’s go see what the man wants. Captains, with me. The rest of you, if there’s any betrayal use the stones!” I called out, loud enough to travel among my fighters but not loud enough to be understood by Hakubin’s group. Four chariots rumbled forwards as the drivers cracked the reins and tapped the ponies with their goads.

Leaving behind the rest of my forces left me feeling vulnerable and paranoid. I had been playing sergeant rather than captain on the raid, an NCO barking orders at privates. I supposed I was now facing the equivalent of a commissioned officer, one of aristocratic blood like in pre-modern wars. Sometimes they were heroes like Marlborough and Wellington, sometimes they weren’t worth more than the bullet it took to frag them.

We pulled up a dozen feet from the king, our chariots forming a line perpendicular to his warriors. This would allow us to move off quickly if we had to and I silently thanked whoever had trained the drivers. The king maintained a stoic expression but his warriors shifted nervously at the neat manoeuvre. Normally the rider had the advantage of speed and weight. While they could likely still outpace us, mass was very definitely on our side.

“I see you’ve had a successful raid. It wasn’t sanctioned so I require a tithe of the loot,” Hakubin began without preamble and in a stern voice.

“King, this was an honour raid. No blessing was needed and no tithe can be demanded!” said Jandak angrily. “The murder of Hatrikandos under trade truce had to be avenged!”

“Nonetheless I should have been informed. I would of course have granted you my blessing-”

“You saw us ride out! If you’d had any objection you could have sent a rider. That you didn’t is a tacit blessing!” Mune jumped in, interrupting the King.

“Speak out of turn again, Herm, and I will have you tied to a wagon for three nights!” Hakubin exploded. I stepped between the king and my friend. “I am owed a tithe due to your making war without my permission. If the southerners band together and seek retribution it is all of our people who’ll suffer!”

“The truce is restored. There won’t be any retribution,” I offered. What would happen should Mortimer come back I couldn’t predict but until then what I said was true. Hakubin ignored me and spoke to Jandak.

“Jandak you know damn well that the King of Urkash has claimed all the nearby towns. We aren’t dealing with petty, disunited townships anymore but satraps of a powerful lord.” I supposed the rest of the traders had come back with tales from other towns falling under my enemies' control. “And you just raided one of his possessions! You fucking idiots have placed our people and my rule in grave danger. So you will pay the tithe!”

“Mune, go and fetch two fine iron swords for the lord,” I said. Mune glanced at me as if to ask why it had to be him and I shot him a glare. He glared right back but he did as I requested. He jumped from his chariot and loped rapidly back to the prisoners' wagons. Brief words were exchanged and he was passed two long objects wrapped in cloth and then sprinted back to us.

“Give them to him,” I ordered Mune, who strode forward and passed the objects to one of the king's guards. The man unwrapped one and gasped. He drew a bronze dagger and tapped it against the grey metal then nodded to Hakubin with a smile. “Please take them as an apology for any trouble we have caused and to help strengthen the tribe should violence result from our actions.”

“This is acceptable, Jandak.” The prick was still pretending I didn’t exist. “However I will need to discuss the cull with Hatrikhan. Your family may need to make a greater offering to the collective supplies than usual.” Jandak looked like he was going to spit feathers but he kept quiet and merely nodded. “You recovered your goods and avenged your honour?” he asked in a much more reasonable tone.

“We did, lord,” Jandak ground out through clenched teeth. Hakubin smiled broadly at him.

“Excellent. It's a shame you won’t be able to trade the ivory this year. I’m afraid that as your family lost a chit I may not be able to promise you a trade wagon of your own next year. It wouldn’t look right to the other families. I expect whoever does get the chits will be happy to carry your goods, for a suitable cut of the profit,” Hakubin’s smile was all teeth at this point and it was more predatory than friendly by a large margin. I clenched my fists. Hopefully the Fangs would keep their cool and not react.

Mune had been about to step back onto his chariot as he heard the last words and he snarled, pulling his dagger. I was on him in a flash, faster than a normal man could hope to move and fast enough that even with the speed and strength from his levels I caught his wrist before the blade became visible over the rim of the chariot.

“Don’t,” I hissed. Hakubin had noticed me when I moved, his pony shifted backwards slightly as the reins and Hakubins weight commanded it to retreat but he caught himself and the beast stopped still. “It won’t matter. After the cull it won’t matter at all,” I whispered as quietly as I could. Mune relaxed slightly and slipped his dagger back into its sheath.

“Such an unruly slave you have Jandak.” Hakubin said as he wheeled his pony and his party followed behind him. The guards began barking orders when they got back to their lines and the infantry and cavalry facing off against us turned in a disorganised manoeuvre and filtered back towards the main camp.

“Forget about it. Half our swords don’t matter. None of you are trained to use proper swords and we won’t be fighting with swords much if we can help it. We will be horse archers and charioteers. If we’re fighting with swords then we’ll have fucked up!” I tried to cheer them up but having so much metal extorted from them had thrown them into a foul mood. That much metal represented incredible wealth to these men.

“So much bloody loot!” complained Kos. “He had no fucking right!”

“Better to let him have them. Keep him off our backs until we split the herd. Mond, I’m going to go and let Kril know we’re back. We should keep the slaves away from the main settlement. Take them an hour north and set up a camp there. I’ll have wagons and tents sent out to you,” Jandak said.

“You’re worried about them being in the camp?” I asked.

“They know about your magic. We can’t let them mix with the rest of the tribe. If that arrogant aurox-rapist finds out there’s a smith among them he’ll burn every wagon on the steppe to take him,” Mune offered.

“I hadn’t thought about the magic. They’ve got no reason to keep it to themselves, I suppose. Is a smith really something Hakubin would go to war with us over?” I wondered.

“Smiths are like wizards. Except they’re real. Well, I guess wizards are now as well but smiths have always been real! They’re sacred and tend to get their own ways. Sulk has made the Jagarnyn clan a power on the steppe just by joining them. The majority of our metal weapons come from him,” Jandak chuckled. “There’s going to be shit up the yurt walls when we reveal we’ve got a smith of our own now! I’ll take the trade wagon back in, you head north with the loot and the slaves.”

“Check on Kril and Fayala for me?” I asked.

“Still thinking with the wrong spear! You’d think you’d never had a woman before!” laughed Jandak. “Of course I will.”

I exchanged a forearm clasp with him and he ordered his driver back to the trade wagon. In short order half a dozen riders peeled away from my own column and joined him in driving the exhausted beasts towards the palisades. I turned my back on the town that had somehow started to feel like home and began yelling at riders and warriors to organise the move. The prisoners complained quietly among themselves but loud enough for me to overhear as I passed them. I explained it would only be a short journey at a much more leisurely pace and at the end they would be able to rest. Some of them continued grumbling but most of them became quietly resigned and plodded along as they were told.

“Do you think Hakubin is right about the King of Urkash?” asked Mune as we rattled across the plain.

“Probably. He might set out to punish the town for killing his pet lord, but when he hears there’s another one of us here, when he hears about me... well, I’m not sure what he’ll do. If I were him I’d back off until I had an overwhelming force and then make my move,” I called over to him over the noise of the chariots.

“So it will be in the summer you think?” he questioned.

“I don’t know Mune!” Having people look to me for answers was exhausting. If I knew what to say I’d tell him but I had no idea what an asshole like Mortimer would do. He had been arrogant back on Earth. Now he had magic he might be full of himself and charge in but he might just remember what Poseidon had said about me. If he did he’d be much more cautious.

“Some of my competitors aren’t fighters. If he thinks it might be one of them he might rush in. If he thinks it was me, Gallagher or Amir he’ll probably hold back until he has an army and dozens of soulbound servants,” I finished.

“What do you know about the others?” he asked. I couldn’t help but notice the drivers of both our vehicles were doing their best not to look like they were listening to our every word.

“Gallagher was a professional unarmed fighter. All the close-in fighting I’ve taught you? He is a pro and I’m a rank amateur in comparison. Amir was a high ranking soldier, a commander of armies in my world. They’re the most dangerous of us,” I said.

“More dangerous than you?” Mune laughed.

“One on one Gallagher would kill me easily in a fair fight.” That sobered Mune up quickly. “Of course, I won’t fight fair!” I grinned evilly. “Amir will be much better at training and leading men than me. The rest aren’t fighters so I don’t know what will happen with them.”

“You’ve done well so far, Mond. We have a smith now!” called Mune with a smile almost as evil as my own.

We made camp on one side of a large copse of trees. We would need plenty of wood to build palisades and fencing for the herds following behind us. I asked two riders who looked less exhausted than the rest to get fresh mounts and head back towards the camp to guide the wagons to us. The chariots parked in a circle around the wagons and dismounted warriors went into the woods with crude stone hand axes to begin gathering wood.

I found Tanil talking to a broad man in a leather apron whose arms were covered in burn marks and sooty smudges.

“Tanil, we’ll have yurts for your people before nightfall. You’ll need to dig your latrines down the slope from the camp,” I said.

“Greetings lord barbarian. We may move about without supervision?” he asked.

“There’ll be riders patrolling the area and only ten of you can leave the camp at any one time. Otherwise you can organise yourselves as you see fit. There won’t be much work until we head north but if your crafters have anything they can do here I’m happy for them to practice their trades.”

“Why work when the products of our labour will be stolen as soon as they’re finished?” the boy asked.

“What crafts do you have among your people?” I replied ignoring his question.

“Weavers and carpenters mostly. And our good friend Smith Klip here,” he answered, waving a hand at the broad man standing next to him who hadn’t stopped glowering at me.

“When Forge Master Badenyk sent me to journey and perfect my craft I never thought I’d end up a slave to steppe savages,” he spat to his side. His voice was gruff and raspy. His eyes were wide but his pupils were tiny, his large brown iris almost completely filling his eyeballs.

“I don’t think of you as slaves. More as prisoners. In two winters you'll all be freed if you want to be. By then I hope you’ll have decided you prefer our company. What do you know about water wheels?” I asked with a glint in my eyes. I needed this man on side and a little bit of simple technology I could explain the gist of might help win him over.

“Are you mad? What the fuck is that? Some kind of nomad demon?” he snapped back. I crouched and swept a patch of dirt clear and began drawing out a simple design and explaining how the rotational force of the wheel could be transferred into things like trip hammers or grinding grains. After ten minutes his pupils had actually increased in diameter slightly, now being merely small as opposed to almost invisible.

“This is… revolutionary.” He sounded enthralled but a second later his earlier surliness snapped back into place. “You aren’t a smith. I get no aura of Velkit from you. This is all just the nonsense of a tricky savage! They talk about your kind, back in the towns. Savages for sure but tricksy and evil, always looking to con simple folk and steal their animals.”

“I’ll build you one, when we arrive in the north. Then you’ll see.” I straightened and grinned down at the man. “I’ll leave you be for now. Please don’t stray too far from the camp or the riders will be forced to drag you back.” I left him cursing and swearing but he kept glancing down suspiciously at the crude drawing I’d made in the soil. I could almost feel the thoughts whirring in his head .

“Tanil,” I called back as I was walking away. “Did you bring any leatherworkers?”

“We have two with us,” he answered in an annoyed whine.

“Once Klip has stopped trying to figure out if the water wheel will work, please send him and the leatherworkers over to me. I’ll be overseeing the cutting of the trees for the palisade!”